The Best UK course not on the Rota right now

[Kevin Edwards]

I'm not enthused with Hoylake.  I'm sorry I think there are and were better places to bring the Open Championship if they were going to bring back Royal Liverpool out of the bullpen.

What is wrong with Saunton?  It is only 6800 yards from the tips and would need to be lengthened.  What an intro hole and if they dropped #2 to a par 4 too, it is one heck of a start!  Herb Fowler deserves an Open.  With a little bit of lengthening you could bring the championship to an area of England that the pro's have not seen.  Then again according to Ron Whitten this is probably an obsolete course.

I would gather Kingsbarns could also be a candidate and who knows maybe Trump will throw his hat into the R&A ring!

[PThomas]

and who knows maybe Trump will throw his hat into the R&A ring!

now I just heard Old Tom spinning in his grave

[Phil Benedict]

What about Ireland?  Didn't they play the senior open at Royal County Down, which I guess is in the UK still?

[Matthew Schulte]

I would think Royal Portrush, Royal Dornoch and Royal County Down would all be high on the list of candidates worthy of hosting the Open Championship but not capable of doing so due to either politics or lack of infrastructure.

[David_Tepper]

They have played the Senior Open at both Portrush and County Down.

[Kevin Edwards]

I don't want to include Portrush or Newcastle.  They are obvious choices but I don't think for whatever reason the R&A will go back to the Emerald Island.  They've had plenty of chances.. Furthermore, Saunton has 2 courses which means plenty of places for tents, hospitality and whatnot.

Sunningdale would be a great venue if they brought it to a non links.. and again has 36 holes... Heavens though if they touched up Sunningdale the wrong way..

I guess one can ask who is the R&A doctor.. It was R. Jones and now Fazio in the US... it seems to be Steel in the UK but I'm told he has retired to Australia for the most part so wouldnt it be Tom Mackenzie?

[Phil Benedict]

I would think Royal Portrush, Royal Dornoch and Royal County Down would all be high on the list of candidates worthy of hosting the Open Championship but not capable of doing so due to either politics or lack of infrastructure.

Aside from lacking the infrastructure, I think Rich Goodale said that Dornoch could be a little easy for the best players.  Someone might shoot a 60.

[Tom_Doak]

Assuming you are limiting the discussion to links courses which might be qualified to host the Open (and don't come with the political and security difficulties of Northern Ireland), I would vote for Royal Cinque Ports as #1.  

Royal Dornoch is certainly a better course but I would hate to see how they might disfigure it to host a championship; the same is true for Machrihanish (and Kingsbarns, for that matter).  Prestwick would be most interesting of all, but the logistics there would be impossible.

Saunton is an excellent course but not very links-like in the character of its turf, and I suspect the R & A might find pause in the odd makeup of holes there.

[Noel Freeman]

Tom Doak-

You are 100% correct.  Deal is the best venue and I may hesitate to say some of the club elders might scratch their head at Hoylake getting the nod above my beloved Cinque Ports.

Deal has a lot going for it..

*Sea wall on the outbound 9 can accomodate stands
*The club owns the flat farmland at the terminus of the loop around #12 tee which could house the amenity tents
*Tis a fair test with some odd quirk thrown in for good measure
*According to all of the Deal and Sandwich members I've met it is 2 to 2.5 shots harder than Sandwich which will bring some joy to the R&A
*The best test over the final 7 holes of any Open venue I've played
*Some short par 4s that could tempt and invite disaster notably #6 (an all world short par 4) and #10.  In Open qualifying for the 2003 Open the hole played to a stroke average of something like 4.5 which for a 330 yard hole is impressive
*#16 is one helluva par 4 if the R&A chose to make is so from about 485 yards into the wind.
*The best greens on the Open circuit.  My dear amigo RT thinks they are some of the best he's ever seen.  #1,#3,#12 and nos 16 and 17 are a terrific bunch of undulating, punchbowls and vortexed greens.

The cons:  Deal needs a little length on the front. There is plenty of room to add 50-60 yards on the Opener and put a seawall tee for #3 making it a longer par 5 downwind.  #6 also has a little room to add a few yards and still make it tempting.  
*The course is narrow like St. Andrews which means little in the way of visitor access but if they can make it work at TOC, it can work at Deal.

Tom- you need to call RT when you are next in the UK and go back and see it.  There is a reason I joined the club and I owe Russell for getting me down there.  Ran thought it a superior links experience to Muirfield, Turnberry and Troon. Not bad company!  And it is in golf's most beloved top's 50 places..

Sir Peter Allen had it right in his book..

[Joe Andriole]

The real issues for the Open are less about the quality of the links than the space for grandstands, television, exhibition tents; access and accomodation.  They are expecting 250,000+ at Hoylake.  The logistics are mind boggling.  I personally believe that Deal is a fabulous links but I think that it is too shoret on length and too short on infrastructure to be a serious Open site.  The other key ingredient is the will of the membership.  Royal Liverpool covets the O\pen and rightly sees it as part of their heritage.

[Geoffrey Childs]

I guess I have to take Noel up on his invite and get out to Deal.

Among the ones I've played I must admit that I would love to see Royal Portrush host another Open Championship and Royal Dornoch perhaps would be to the Open what Merion would be to the US Open.

[Dan Moore]

Royal County Down.  I'm very curious to see how it plays for next year's Walker Cup.  Merion:  Walker Cup 2009/US Open 2013.  I doubt the town has the infrastructure, but who knows, they have handled the Senior Open in the past.  

Portrush (Max Faulkner 1951) would be my second choice, but admittedly I am not familiar with many of the other possibilities, at least not yet.  

[John Sabino]

Kevin - Great Question:

1. Kingsbarns
2. Royal Portrush
3. Royal County Down
4. Royal Portrush

Hoylake should be put back on the Rota once every decade as the world will soon see at the upcoming Open Championship. Despite all the detractors here, it is a fantastic golf course. To make room for the above four courses I would take off Royal Troon and Royal Birkdale. I believe Carnoustie is the best of the bunch and The Old Course should host it the most often.

Joe

[John Sabino]

Sean - Give Carnoustie another chance in a couple of years, hopefully the R & A will more or less leave it as is and try to trick it up this time and make it overly penal. The course can fend for itself. Joe

[John Sabino]

Sean - we agree on that. I can still see Constantino Rocca laying on the 18th green at St. Andrews pounding the ground. Joe

[Mark_F]

Sean,

Why would you want to ditch Carnoustie from the rota?

A fairly charmless place to be sure, but it has some absolutely fantastic holes, especially 2,3,5,6,10,14,15 and 17.

Much better than Troon, surely, which only has a back nine to recommend it...

And much, much better than Birkdale, which has 12, 15 and... not much else of interest.

[ForkaB]

I played Carnoustie yesterday, and it is in superb condition--fast and firm.  The rough is thick in some places but is not being watered, and won't be for the next Open.  One of the central elements of the personality of the course is its stinginess.  It treats any imperfect shot with disdain.  This is probaly why so many of the pros hate it and casual visitors don't fall so easily for its considerable charms.

It may well be the best course on the Open Rota.

I'll review and refine this view over the summer, as I'll be visiting it often since it will be the subject of my next book.

[johnk]

C'mon Rich.  Anyone who's ever played the rota courses KNOWS that Royal St. George's IS the best course on the rota.  

And they also know that TOC is the best course FOR the championship.

BTW, the latest issue of Golf Digest unabashedly rips Hoylake.  To shreds.  And that just makes me more keen to play it.

[ForkaB]

Sean

We're rebranding it.  It's Carnicety from now on. .

PS--if you don't understand the charms of Carnoustie, you need a semester or two at The Max Behr Memorial Charm School.

John

Not "anyone" surely, as I am a one who disagrees with you.

[ForkaB]

Sean

You are too old to play the "angry young man" role.  Lighten up, Buckaroo!

Rich

[Marc Haring]

Saunton is an excellent course but not very links-like in the character of its turf,

I’m surprised at that statement Tom. I always thought Saunton had the most superb wall-to-wall links turf. I know that this course has its critics, what with a lack of a testing par five and perhaps the upgrades haven’t quite been in keeping but I have always enjoyed it immensely. Personally, with a bit of tweaking I think it could be a fantastic venue and would get it down into the southwest for the first time ever.

[Ed Tilley]

Saunton is an excellent course but not very links-like in the character of its turf,

I’m surprised at that statement Tom. I always thought Saunton had the most superb wall-to-wall links turf. I know that this course has its critics, what with a lack of a testing par five and perhaps the upgrades haven’t quite been in keeping but I have always enjoyed it immensely. Personally, with a bit of tweaking I think it could be a fantastic venue and would get it down into the southwest for the first time ever.

Marc,

Much as I love Saunton the logistics would be nightmarish. The roads in that part of the world are not exactly conducive to 250,000 spectators. Geez, if you started out on Thursday morning you might just get through Barnstaple in time to see the leaders tee off on Sunday!

Plus - where would everyone stay. You can't get a room in North Devon in the holidays anyway.

Ed

[Richard Muldoon]

A few for consideration.
Royal Aberdeen - Needs lenthening, but what course doesn't these days. Infrastructure is all there in Aberdeen.
Burnham & Berrow - Again needs lenthening. On the infrastructure side Bristol is no further from B&B than RSG is from London. There would be some traffic management issues.
Princes - Could a composite course be made out of the 27 holes there or even some new holes created for the open? Infrastructure would be the same as RSG

[Richard Muldoon]

Sean,
I'm intrigued by your comment as to why RCD would never be considered. Could you expand?

[RT]

Richard,

Burnham & Berrow is a worthy candidate.  The problem I would see is there are many places where the spectators would have to move around that are difficult to say the least.

Its a rugged piece of ground in most places towards the clubhouse and central parts.

At least there is less sea buckthorn in those huge dunes than in the past!

Royal Cinque Ports, enough quirk, sea wall that NAF mentions, variation in greens, and a meritorious history too.